The third son of William the Conqueror, William "Rufus"
succeeded to the throne of England upon his father's death in 1086,
while his elder brother Robert took over the lands of Normandy. For
the first two years of his reign, the Archbishop of Canterbury,
Lanfranc, continued in the role of chief advisor he had held under
William I. On Lanfranc's death in 1089, however, he appointed
Anselm as Archbishop. This led to protracted conflict between king
and archbishop, since Anselm advocated Gregorian reforms that
William was not prepared to implement. In 1096, Robert of Normandy
joined the First Crusade, and left his kingdom in the care of
William in return for a huge sum of 10,000 marks. William raised
this through taxation - an action that …

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Citation:
Editors. "Reign of William II, William Rufus".
The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 31 July 2012
[http://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=1949, accessed 31 March 2015.]

1949Reign of William II, William Rufus2Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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